I think we have a major problem

[faithlies]

Noticed the other day, two small orangey mushroomy type growths by the skirting board, really weird but chopped them out with a knife and disinfected.

Then last night, sat watching TV I freaked when I noticed an orange stain on the carpet, which is cream so it was really obvious.

So today we move the bookshelf out of the corner of the room, and OH's foot goes through the floor

Pull back the carpet, there's another universe growing under there, nasty fungus stuff.

Anyway, we've stripped out the wood and two joists, OH can do the wood work (well, he can as soon as his arm is better as he fell through the floor a second time!!!) but do we need someone to come in and treat everything? Or can we do it?

Next door have got it too, they've had their floorboards partially replaced last year by a handyman who doesn't know is arse from his elbow and told them there was no damp or rot....just the floorboards were "old".

Turns out their's started with the orange dust, which is the spores of the fungus.

So we think it is dry rot?

And the cause? Previous owner of next door's house made a drive out of 30-odd tonnes of pebbles....so deep they're breaching the damp course in the corner of next door's house where there is also a soakaway, and it's leached through.

Pics to follow, any advice please?

 

[faithlies]

Any advice on posting pics properly? Photobucket doesn't seem to work.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Try DIY-not image upload facility here (in your 'account' area)

 

[faithlies]

Ok, hope this works.

This is what we found when we removed the bookcase....

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• faithlies
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[faithlies]

Underneath the carpet

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• faithlies
• 25 May 2009
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[faithlies]

And this is growing underneath!!!

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• faithlies
• 25 May 2009
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[TonyW2]

Sorry but looks like bad news and rather well advanced.

Dry rot- (--perhaps you could sell your pictures?)
Perhaps somebody else will advise on whether DIY is realistic.

 

[faithlies]

I know you say well advanced Tony, but it's only destroyed two feet of the wood in terms of what is actually rotten, and what I've read says this stuff grows fast.

The fungus itself has spread underneath to the front of the fireplace, but hasn't spread any further than a few centimetres in terms of damage to the wood.

The fireplace is a false one on a concrete base, the chimney breast goes straight down into the foundations and the room would have originally had a wall separating two rooms, that have been knocked through and OH has said will have the remnants of that wall still underneath the floor.

Luckily we get on well with our neighbours and we've just had a bbq to celebrate our mutual problem

 

[^woody^]

You will have to remove another 500mm-1m of timber past the furthest signs of the fungus and steralise all brickwork and concrete for another 2m or so - possibly the complete under floor void.

Boards will have to be lifted elsewhere to check for the hyphae.

And the adjoining neighbour will have to do the same or there is a risk that any work you do will be a waste of time, if the fungus comes back

 

[TonyW2]

Unfortunately the Fungus body forms in the later stages and the strands of hyphae will have been spreading in the wood and wall prior to that showing. Although the weakened wood may only seem to be the small area you mention, it is almost certain that a lot more is infected.
As you will be involved in a lot of work in getting to the possible areas and you have to replace or spray all potentially infected stuff, it would be crazy not to take every precautuion by risking missing any.
It does not help that another adjoining property is involved, as co-operation is going to be essential.
Its not my field, but if the damp was caused initially by your neighbour, you may have a claim against his insurers.

 

[gregers]

bear in mind that a fruiting body(as its called)when nicley mature like yours could produce up 100000 spores,and it only takes a few to start the process again.and in this advance state even if there is no evidence of moisture dry rot will create its own enviorment.
as posted by others remove 1m past last evidence,timber/plasted/skirting everything,
unless you are a compitent diyer or can gain the neccessary skills(quickly)then i would suggest getting a preservation firm in,be prepare it could be very expensive.

 

[maltaron]

Bear in mind that dry rot gets into the brickwork as well. We used to burn the walls with a blow lamp.

 

[sparkydude]

I think a call to your insurers is in order, a defect of this size could cost thousands to rectify properly , and is most likely beyond the realms of a diyer.

Nick

 

[faithlies]

Just to thank you all for your advice and to let you know we have now had the problem fixed and the decorators finish the job tomorrow Hope to have a new carpet throughout in the next couple of weeks but we're waiting for the insurance company to sort that out.

Insurance company covered the damage the dry rot did, but not the cause of it --which was the roots of 20 conifer trees blocking up the pipes going into a soakaway in the front garden.

OH and I dug out ALL the trees , the old pipes and the soakaway ourselves and replaced the lot, four soakaway crates in a huge hole. We were quoted £1400 for the job but did it for less than £400 ourselves including two skips for the earth, our neighbours paid half.

Dry rot company started last Monday, replaced about a third of the affected floor in the (massive) through lounge, hacked off 1m of plaster, cleared out two fireplaces and bricked back up, replastered and replaced all skirting around the whole room.

Decorators have done the whole through lounge, open staircase and landing (all via insurance) though we paid extra for paintwork on the woodwork upstairs so everything is newly done.

We are so far very happy with the job they have done and look forward to getting back to normal after several months of having a hole in the floor

 

[gregers]

well that was a good result in the end,thanks for keeping us informed with the outcome.
what did the preservation company sting the insurance company for??